Julie Wheeler, Intergovernmental Relations Officer
Julie Wheeler first joined Travis County as the Constituent Relations Director for former Precinct Three County Commissioner Karen Huber. In January 2013, she transitioned to Travis County’s Intergovernmental Relations Office where she assists with the creation and execution of Travis County’s state and federal legislative agendas.
Julie has interned at the Hope Alliance, a non-profit which works with individuals who have experienced family and sexual violence. While at the Hope Alliance, she provided counseling to both adolescent and adult survivors of domestic abuse. Julie has also interned for the Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition (TECEC), a former non-profit devoted to building high-quality early childhood education across Texas. At TECEC, Julie coordinated outreach and advocacy efforts for its statewide public awareness campaign and researched issues related to the agency’s legislative agenda.
Julie received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work.
Cicely Kay, Intergovernmental Relations Specialist
Born and raised in the Central Texas area, Cicely Kay has a passion for community involvement and development, from the local to state level, and believes government’s role is to enable its constituents to live full and productive lives. Her passion for public service was cemented with her first job at the Texas State Capitol with Rep. Patrick Rose (HD-45). The experience showed her the importance of serving your community and the many ways in which public officials can (and absolutely should) do so. Her commitment to public service was further cultivated as an appointed Commissioner on the Planning and Zoning Commission in her hometown of Kyle. There she came to further understand the impact governments have on their residents, and decided she wanted to assist in shaping the policies and programs implemented by governments. Cicely went on to work in both the House and Senate at the Texas Legislature through seven regular legislative sessions and nine special legislative sessions.
During her fifth session, while serving as Legislative Director for Rep. Jessica Farrar (HD-148), Cicely also spent time as the Executive Director for the Texas House Women’s Health Caucus. This role solidified a particular passion for working to advance policies that increase access to quality health care and improve health care outcomes for women, particularly women of color. She has worked on many policy areas while at the Capitol, but is especially interested in: health and human services; local government and intergovernmental affairs; environmental conservation; and natural resources. Most recently she served the residents of Central Austin as Legislative Director for Rep. Gina Hinojosa (HD-49). One of her proudest accomplishments during this time was leading the research, development, and completion of a statewide greenhouse gas emissions inventory and report to understand Texas’ role in global climate change.
Cicely holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin. While at the LBJ School, she was named the 2014 Terrell Blodgett Fellow in Government Services in Urban Management and Finance. She is a proud lifelong learner and has spent two summers in England studying international politics and affairs at Cambridge University. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, exploring Texas (with a goal of visiting all 254 county courthouses in the state), and satisfying her wanderlust by continuing her quest to visit every continent in the world (three more to go!). Most importantly, Cicely is excited to continue a personal and professional commitment to advocating for others; she maintains sincere hope for a more equitable and just future for all Texans.
